(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat pipe technology, and more particularly to an aluminum pipe and heat pipe package made through a series of extrusion molding steps.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A heat pipe is a closed evaporator-condenser system consisting of a sealed, hollow tube whose inside walls are lined with a capillary structure or wick. It combines both thermal conductivity and phase transition to efficiently manage the transfer of heat between two solid interfaces. Conventional heat pipes are made from copper. Due to the effects of the material properties, the copper body of a heat pipe is prone to burst in the casting mold in high-temperature environments, and brass body is prone to burst at a high temperature of die casting. An aluminum pipe can be wrapped about a heat pipe to enhance the overall structural strength, avoiding burst under a high temperature environment. Taiwan Patent M345223 discloses a sheathed flat heat pipe, which comprises a flat heat pipe, and a flat sleeve wrapped about the flat heat pipe in such a manner that the evaporator end of the flat heat pipe is exposed to the outside of the flat sleeve. Further, in Taiwan Patent 1429489, a heat pipe is inserted into a hollow metal pipe (made of aluminum), and then the hollow metal pipe is stretched to extend its length and to reduce its diameter, and thus, the hollow metal pipe is tightly wrapped about the heat pipe to form a metal-wrapped heat pipe.
According to the cited 1429489 design, the hollow metal pipe is stretched to extend its length and to reduce its diameter, however, this method needs to employ a secondary machining process to block up the two opposite open ends of the hollow metal pipe in order to completely wrap the heat pipe inside the hollow metal pipe.